Improvement in forks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM H. KRETSINGER, OF FORT MADISON, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN FORKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 209,058, dated October 15, 1878; application filed August 24, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. KRET- SINGER, of Fort Madison, in the county of Lee and State of Iowa, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Forks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is arepresentation of a face of my fork. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central sectional view of the same, and Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangement of straw, grain, or hay forks, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

The annexed drawing, to which reference is made, fully illustrates my invention.

AA represent the steel prongs; B, the wooden head, and O the wooden cross-bar or brace, which together form the fork. Each prong A is drawn from a blank of steel in the usual manner, except that at the large or heel end, for a short distance, it is abruptly reduced in size, making a shoulder, a, at the beginning of said reduction. A thread or screw is then cut on this reduced part or tenon, b, which completes the prong.

The upper cross-head, B, has holes or apertures through it longitudinally with the handle, through which the tenons b of the prongs are passed, and each tenon has then a nut, d, screwed on its end, thereby drawing the shoulder a very tightly to the opposite side of said cross-head.

The lower cross-head or brace, G, has holes through it also, perpendicularly, and at nearly right angles with the prongs when in place.

An eyebolt, 71-, with a thread or screw cut on the bolt end, is slipped over each prong until it reaches a desired point, when the said bolt end is passed through one of the holes in the cross head or brace O, and a nut, 'z', screwed onto the same, thereby drawing the prong tightly down to the cross-head, into which a groove, 00, has been cut to receive the lower side of the prong, and so on with each bolt, prong, and nut until the desired number are properly secured to complete the head of the fork.

A handle, D, is afterward inserted, making a finished fork.

WVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a fork, the combination of the steel prongs A, formed with the shoulder a and screw-tenon I), the wooden cross-head B, and nuts (I, and the wooden cross-brace 0, having grooves 00, the eyebolts h, and nuts 1', constructed, arranged, and operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM H. KRETSINGER.

\Vitnesses J. D. M. HAMILTON, EKIN SMITH. 

